Orange Amps Founder: Our Amps Have 'More Crunch And Sound Better'

While musical ability greatly helps, without reliable, sonically crisp equipment a talented musician's performance can soon descend into horror. With quality equipment and an experienced road crew, musicians usually avoid this. Used by Oasis on their inaugural two albums as well as other artists like Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac fame, Stevie Wonder and a whole brace of others, Orange Amps are still going strong after their 1968 inception.
The Orange brand came to light in the basement of 3-4 New Compton Street in the early summer of 1968 where, equipped with little more than a Revox tape recorder and Vox reverb unit, Cliff Cooper unveiled Orange Recording Studios. Later on, stars like Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, John Miles and Robin Gibb would record there.
However, the studio wasn't a financial success and so Cliff, also a member of a group called the Millionaires, had to put the band's gear up for sale in the downstairs of the area which had a shop window. All the gear sold that very same day, it leading to the birth of Orange Amplification. Opening up the Orange shop, guitar manufacturers refused to supply Cliff, and so he capitalised on the growing trade in second-hand guitars. Also, using his electrical engineering background he designed an amp with orange-coloured vynide covering, picture-frame amp sleeves and cabs and 1950s retro sci-fi amplifier controls. Radio Craft from northern England supplied the first Orange amps, a thirty-watt valve guitar amp (the Matamp Series 2000). In the autumn of 1968, Cliff placed an order with the Huddersfield-based Matamp (named after founder Mat Mathias) to make some hundred-watt valve amps for Orange. In late 1968, Fleetwood Mac would take half a dozen Orange amps to America. Over forty years later, and the rest, as they say, is history.
On April 20th at 14:00 GMT, Hit The Lights' Robert Gray telephoned Orange Amps founder Cliff Cooper to discuss the history of Orange Amps and its future.
Cliff Cooper: Hello?
UG: Hello. Is this Cliff?
Yes. Who's this?
This is Robert Gray from Ultimate-Guitar.com, calling for the interview.
Oh, right. How are you?
I'm doing well. How are you Cliff?
I'm fine, thank you very much.
Are you alright to do the interview?
Yes, of course I am. It's a beautiful day. Where are you based?
Near Cardiff.
Is the weather nice there?
It is today oddly enough, yeah.
That's great. Oh, that's lovely. No, please... Go ahead. I'm fine.

"Fleetwood Mac were our first endorsees, but I believe it was Stevie Wonder who really promoted our equipment world wide a year later."

Let's start with how it all began. Could you talk me through how you came to open a recording studio in the summer of 1968?
That's right, yes. I had a small recording studio in Stratford which is in East London. It was very small, and I was looking for somewhere a bit larger. A property came up in London's West End, but it was only a short lease because they were intending to pull the building down. That was 3 New Compton Street, and we started building a studio in the basement. It took a long time and cost a lot more money than I had anticipated. Unfortunately it wasn't a huge success financially. The premises included a shop on the ground floor and because I was so short of money I decided to sell my own band equipment in the shop. I cleaned the windows and made the shop look presentable and I could not believe it when my gear sold on the very first day.
When you opened up the Orange shop, major music companies refused to supply you with stock.
I needed to buy more stock but nobody would supply us. This made life very difficult for me and I was forced to sell second hand guitars and amplifiers. My background was in electronics so I decided to build my own amps and that's how Orange really started, I suppose out of necessity. We designed an amplifier and we arranged for a company called Radio Craft to make them in Huddersfield. Matt was the name of the guy who ran the company.
Was there a reason why major music companies refused to stock the Orange shop?
The shop was situated by Charring Cross Road which lead to Shaftesbury Avenue, London. These two roads were the main walk around for Music Shops. Rose Morris was one of these shops and at that time were the distributors for Marshall Amplifiers. Then there was Selmers, who distributed Gibson, and Sound City, the main Fender Shop. I believe they didn't want any competition, preferring to keep the business to themselves, so I was forced to buy and sell second hand equipment.
Would you say that Fleetwood Mac were the first proper endorsee of Orange Amps?
I was a fan of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and I really enjoyed Pete's guitar playing and through my connections with him I was able to introduce them to our Orange amplifiers. They liked them and ordered a complete backline which they took to the States after their UK tour. Yes, Fleetwood Mac were our first endorsees, but I believe it was Stevie Wonder who really promoted our equipment world wide a year later.
So Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Wonder using Orange Amps introduced the amp to their respective music communities, Fleetwood Mac within the blues genre and Stevie Wonder within Motown and so on?
Yeah, and that gave us the exposure and enthusiasm to really move forward and expand.
How did Jimmy Page come to use Orange?
Jimmy was rehearsing with Led Zeppelin before their tour and asked to try Orange Amps along with many other makes. Jimmy decided to tour with them which was great for us, as I was also a huge fan of Led Zeppelin. I know Jimmy often used his Orange Amp in the studio. He also used them at the Led Zeppelin reunion concert at the O2 Arena and when he toured the US with the Black Crowes.
In the early 1970s, how did Orange attempt to diversify?
We made a lot of money from the shop because we were one of the only shops selling second hand Gibson and Fender Guitars etcetera. Musicians in those hippy days didn't want to be seen playing nice, new, clean looking guitars... it just wasn't rock 'n' roll. They usually wanted heavily used guitars and in any event at the time I thought the old Gibson and Fender Guitars often sounded better than new ones. A lot of other people did as well, so we built up a big business on second hand guitars despite the fact the main distributors still would not supply us. I invested a lot of the money to upgrade the studios and we had some great legendary artists using them including Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Robin Gibb, Stevie Wonder, John Miles and lots of really famous bands. A number of bands were then asking if I could help them get a record deal and it seemed sensible to form our own record label which we called Orange Records. The first artist signed to the label was John Miles and his band The Influence. He was, and still is, an amazing all-rounder musician. Our first record was "I Want to Live". It was a success and we started signing other artists to the label. Shortly after we formed Orange Publishing and then launched Orange Hire. This became a big part of our business and the hire side gave us tremendous exposure as we were supplying backline and PA to American artists touring Europe and most of the big outdoor festivals. I later formed the Orange Agency which would book bands into venues all over the UK and arranging tours throughout Europe.

"Musicians in those hippy days didn't want to be seen playing nice, new, clean looking guitars... it just wasn't rock 'n' roll."

Could you talk me through the development of the OMEC Digital, which was the world's first patented digitally programmable amplifier?
Yes. When transistor amplifiers first came on to the market they were being sold very cheaply. In fact, you could buy a transistor amp for a third of the price of a valve amp, maybe even less. I don't think they were very reliable in those early days, so we started thinking about building something special ourselves. One of our technical team was a really brilliant guy and he came up with the circuits for a digitally programmable amplifier. It worked by being able to programme the sound of four different channels. It would remember the sounds that were programmed and could be recalled via a footswitch. The problem with it was that it was so very expensive to build, unless we were able to have our own custom chip made. The cost would have been over 100,000 but I was unable to persuade the bank to support me. Off the back of this we designed and marketed the OMEC range of amplifiers which were based on the OMEC Digital power amp. These were quite successful alongside the Orange valve amps.
What did Orange get up to in the eighties? Mentions of the eighties seem to be conspicuously absent on Orange's official website.
We were lucky that the lease of the shop lasted almost exactly ten years from 1968 to 1978 when the property developers decided they wanted to pull down the shop and others in the whole street. This happened and the shop closed. We continued to manufacture Orange amps for a few years after, but the market seemed to shift and became overcrowded with cheap transistor amps. Our amps were valve amps and were expensive to build and business was tough which led to the factory closing in about 1980, although we did continue to make small numbers. In about 1994 we licensed the Orange Amplifier name to the Gibson Corporation and in 1998 the name came back to us. It was then that I decided to start redesigning and upgrading the amplifiers.
Did the licensing agreement with the Gibson Corporation help Orange's profile?
It certainly helped bring back the Orange brand awareness. Shortly after, we were fortunate enough to discover Oasis had used the Orange Amps on their first two albums and were now using them onstage. This was excellent publicity for us and we were again back on track.
So a lot of the Britpop bands used Orange?
Yeah, loads. This new wave of music really helped push the brand forward.
Has the recession affected things at Orange Amps?
Strangely, no. I think music, like books, seem to be fairly recession proof and our business is increasing year by year. We won the Queens Award for Enterprise and International Trade twice, first in 2006 and then again 2009. I think we are the only music amplifier manufacturer to do so, but we can never rest on our laurels, as it appears the world banking sector still seems to be very much in crisis.
Winning the Queen's Award For Enterprise: International Trade twice indicates Orange produce high-quality products.
I think it's fair to say the build quality of our amplifiers is as good as it gets. One of the points in our mission statement is that we will never cheapen the quality of our amplifiers for the sake of cost cutting. On the contrary, as we make improvements to our amplifiers the cost often rises, although as our production is steadily rising year on year, we are usually able to absorb these costs.
Do groups from the newer generation use Orange Amps?
Surprisingly amplifiers don't seem to change that much with the newer generations of music. I think one of the things that we at Orange really wanted to achieve was for our amplifiers to appeal to each new generation. I believe with the new products launched over the last few years and based upon our increased sales, we have succeeded. Lots of new bands come on board with us every week and their standard of playing is so very good. The majority think the colour is pretty cool although there is of course now the choice of Orange being made available in Black Tolex.
Why do you feel Orange is a good choice of amp for guitarists? What advantage does an Orange amp have that competitors' amps possibly do not?
We spent years developing a new range of special transformers as we felt it was a weak link in the chain with regard to the sound of an amplifier. The output transformer is now interleaved to between five and eight sections (depending on which model) instead of the industry standard of three. This acoustically couples the transformer in a more balanced manner, which along with an extended frequency response, makes for a more musical sounding overdrive and transparency on the clean tones. Although these transformers are much more expensive to produce, they do give the amp more crunch and sound so much better, which I believe gives us the edge over our competitors.

"One of the points in our mission statement is that we will never cheapen the quality of our amplifiers for the sake of cost cutting."

What are the future goals for Orange Amps?
We have just launched the new Dark Terror which is specifically designed for the new wave metal bands. It's getting fantastic reviews and I think deservedly so.
We have also developed the world's first hybrid computer guitar amplifier for musicians, configured with music software for recording and emulating various guitar brands on a PC platform. The OPC is a one-stop recording studio in a very small amplifier case with a hard disk drive, DVD drive, Wi-Fi, Intel Technology and uses Stereo JBL speakers. It is an amazing piece of kit and a must have for singer / songwriters and musicians. Basically, you record the audio tracks digitally on the OPC which has modelling software included, click the mouse and it's straight out on the web. It's worth checking it out on www.orangeopc.com as I believe this product will change the way in which musicians record.
Orange are now a truly global company with offices and facilities in three major continents. This has helped enormously to promote our brand awareness. With our daily international video Skype meetings we are able to assist touring bands with their equipment and provide a good after sales service almost anywhere in the world.
We have also just released our first full colour coffee table book called 'The Book of Orange' with the flip side of the book 'Building the Brand'. This book tells the complete Orange story from the beginning. It's full of pictures from our archives and gives a complete chronology of all amplifiers we have ever made and their dates. Excerpts of the book can be seen on our web site www.orangeamps.com.
Looking forward, we shall continue to be innovative and produce our equipment to the highest possible quality and standards carrying on our tradition of working with musicians to achieve their goals.
Thanks for talking to me Cliff.
Thank you - you're very welcome. It was very kind of you to call, and it was a pleasure talking to you. If there's any more information you'd like, you can always email me.
I will indeed. You have a nice day.
You too, and do take care.
Bye.
Bye.
Interview by Robert GrayUltimate-Guitar.Com 2011

I've heard good sounds from the amps, but I'm hesitant to actually buy one. They are probably some of the ugliest amps out there lol XP. I don't wanna lay that much down for an amp unless I'm 100% satisfied, but I recall seeing some black or white models as well.

Cliff Cooper: Hello?
UG: Hello. Is this Cliff?
Yes. Who's this?
This is Robert Gray from Ultimate-Guitar.com, calling for the interview.
Oh, right. How are you?
I'm doing well. How are you Cliff?
I'm fine, thank you very much.
Are you alright to do the interview?
Yes, of course I am. It's a beautiful day. Where are you based?
Near Cardiff.
Is the weather nice there?
It is today oddly enough, yeah.
That's great. Oh, that's lovely. No, please... Go ahead. I'm fine.

Why do you include this part? It really makes you guys seem less professional.

FlyingVExplorer wrote:
Cliff Cooper: Hello?
UG: Hello. Is this Cliff?
Yes. Who's this?
This is Robert Gray from Ultimate-Guitar.com, calling for the interview.
Oh, right. How are you?
I'm doing well. How are you Cliff?
I'm fine, thank you very much.
Are you alright to do the interview?
Yes, of course I am. It's a beautiful day. Where are you based?
Near Cardiff.
Is the weather nice there?
It is today oddly enough, yeah.
That's great. Oh, that's lovely. No, please... Go ahead. I'm fine.
Why do you include this part? It really makes you guys seem less professional.

I'm not dishing out money for a tube amp UNLESS its an Orange Amp. My sights are set and nothing will sway me. What's wrong with the Orange color? That's as vintage as it gets, you see old videos of like Jethro Tull and Iron Butterfly playing these things and it just makes you want one right away!

Apocalypse4162 wrote:
I'm not dishing out money for a tube amp UNLESS its an Orange Amp. My sights are set and nothing will sway me. What's wrong with the Orange color? That's as vintage as it gets, you see old videos of like Jethro Tull and Iron Butterfly playing these things and it just makes you want one right away!

I agree! It's one thing that sets this company apart from every other manufacturer! Plus, they have that signature sound that no one else can replicate as well.
And seriously, metal bands play these as well. What's more metal than having blacked out cabs? FUCKING ORANGE ONES!

Indeed orange amps are good, but their sound doesn't make it a versatile amp, I think they're pretty specific... I mean, you can play some real good blues, old crunchy rock and many classic rock variations, but don't expect to play death metal or something extreme with these amps, It's focused on a vintage sound, If I had the money I would definitely go for one of these.

Chronologo wrote:
Indeed orange amps are good, but their sound doesn't make it a versatile amp, I think they're pretty specific... I mean, you can play some real good blues, old crunchy rock and many classic rock variations, but don't expect to play death metal or something extreme with these amps, It's focused on a vintage sound, If I had the money I would definitely go for one of these.

I wouldn't really call it non-versatile. They're used in everything from Led Zeppelin to Slipknot to Underoath to lots of Indie-rock. But I do agree not really death metal. Get a 5150 or a Mesa for that haha.

The only good judge of sound is playing through the thing itself. If you're worried about not looking cool because of your amp's COLOR, chances are something black won't get the job done either. Play through a Thunderverb and feel your balls drop.
I love my 7 string Carvin with active pickups through an Uberschall, but playing an Epiphone Dot through an Orange stack the other day was pure heaven.

Go and try one, I was shopping for a pro rig about 2 months ago and tried Mesa Boogie Rectifier's, Blackstar's, Peavey 6505+'s and 5150's and a couple of Marshall's but ended up buying a Thunderverb 200 with a fairly standard Orange cab. Its an amazing amp, sounds very ballsy but is very crisp and clean at the same time, amazing tone. I honestly couldn't recommend these amps more, personally I play a lot of metal but the amp covers everything with ease. I wouldn't be so quick to discredit them, I know I was slightly apprehensive before plugging into one but its worth it when you take a leap of faith with them

The only Orange I've played on is the Tiny Terror and it's absolutely awesome I reckon that amp opened up a new market for all amp manufacturers because now everyone makes a little class A 15W. Can't wait to see what they come up with next - range of stomp boxes maybe?

Chronologo wrote:
Indeed orange amps are good, but their sound doesn't make it a versatile amp, I think they're pretty specific... I mean, you can play some real good blues, old crunchy rock and many classic rock variations, but don't expect to play death metal or something extreme with these amps, It's focused on a vintage sound, If I had the money I would definitely go for one of these.

i dont know how just not being able to cover death metal makes an amp non versatile.
someone - "hey my amp can accurately cover blues, rock, british rock, classic rock, 80's rock, grunge, country, and new wave."
other - "ya but it cant play death metal so its not versatile"

Mixed bag of tricks here - some of the Orange amps are good at what they do... however, combine the Tiny Terror head with the 1x12 available with it and you get something akin to playing through one of those Marshall MicroAmps, only louder... not nice!
If you're not after too tight a sound though, and want a more vintage rock sound then there are few better brands for the money I guess.

FlyingVExplorer wrote:
Cliff Cooper: Hello?
UG: Hello. Is this Cliff?
Yes. Who's this?
This is Robert Gray from Ultimate-Guitar.com, calling for the interview.
Oh, right. How are you?
I'm doing well. How are you Cliff?
I'm fine, thank you very much.
Are you alright to do the interview?
Yes, of course I am. It's a beautiful day. Where are you based?
Near Cardiff.
Is the weather nice there?
It is today oddly enough, yeah.
That's great. Oh, that's lovely. No, please... Go ahead. I'm fine.
Why do you include this part? It really makes you guys seem less professional.

this is called transcribing your interview. it is a long and tedious process. having transcribed multiple hour long interviews i can say that this is the opposite of unprofessional...just sayin

Vinson wrote:
sXe170 wrote:
Our Amps Have 'More Crunch And Sound Better'
I am not convinced.
Me either. They sound OK, but nothing that blows away any of the competition...and certainly not for the price they are asking.

I have an Orange and I'm not especially thrilled considering what I paid for it. I've been thinking about selling it and buying something else for a while.

I plugged my Gibson SG into an Orange half-stack a couple years ago at one of my local music stores, these amps do sound great, love the clean tone on them, good crunch, but persoanlly I still prefer my Mesa Dual Rectifier Solo head. But if I had the money I could see myself buying an Orange head just to have around for layering and multi-tracking.

A) To those saying Orange amps can't do metal:
Mastodon and Slipknot/Stonesour...
B) To those saying they aren't worth the price, I think they are kind of the opposite to mesa: Cheap in Europe, expensive in the US.
Both are expensive in Australia though

Chronologo wrote:
Indeed orange amps are good, but their sound doesn't make it a versatile amp, I think they're pretty specific... I mean, you can play some real good blues, old crunchy rock and many classic rock variations, but don't expect to play death metal or something extreme with these amps, It's focused on a vintage sound, If I had the money I would definitely go for one of these.

Cool story bro, I sit here and play metal on my Fender Deluxe Reverb all day!

I've got a TH30C (in black tolex) which is great - although I have to admit the first one went back (no sound) and the replacement was suffering from dry solder - although that's been remedied and it's sounding incredible. Being able to select output wattage/class is ideal for home, band practice and gigs and, when run in stereo with my AC30 the sound is enormous.

Chronologo wrote:
Indeed orange amps are good, but their sound doesn't make it a versatile amp, I think they're pretty specific... I mean, you can play some real good blues, old crunchy rock and many classic rock variations, but don't expect to play death metal or something extreme with these amps, It's focused on a vintage sound, If I had the money I would definitely go for one of these.

Orange amps are considered among the best for Doom/Sludge metal tones since its so dark.

Marshall Lead12
Cool story bro, I sit here and play metal on my Fender Deluxe Reverb all day!

Metal like Fall Out Boy?
These are great amps, but don't expect to get versatility without adding pedals. The stereoptypical Orange amp trades on simplicity--single knob tone stacks, etc. I've never seen a 4-channel Orange.
They are what they are. If that isn't what you need/want, then buy something else. If it is and you can afford it, then go for it--why not?
And clean Fender amps can do a lot, too. Even I was surprised to hear how many Nirvana CDs were recorded through Fender Twins. Of course Boss DS-1 had something to do with that tone, too.

mavrick_d wrote:
FlyingVExplorer wrote:
Cliff Cooper: Hello?
UG: Hello. Is this Cliff?
Yes. Who's this?
This is Robert Gray from Ultimate-Guitar.com, calling for the interview.
Oh, right. How are you?
I'm doing well. How are you Cliff?
I'm fine, thank you very much.
Are you alright to do the interview?
Yes, of course I am. It's a beautiful day. Where are you based?
Near Cardiff.
Is the weather nice there?
It is today oddly enough, yeah.
That's great. Oh, that's lovely. No, please... Go ahead. I'm fine.
Why do you include this part? It really makes you guys seem less professional.
this is called transcribing your interview. it is a long and tedious process. having transcribed multiple hour long interviews i can say that this is the opposite of unprofessional...just sayin

I recently played an Orange TH30 combo. I thought the clean tone was cool. The overdrive channel wasn't too exciting for me though. It was gritty and fuzz and not so cool for my taste in lead tones. It sounded okay for certain sounds, but I'm betting I would have liked a head/cab configuration better. As far as cheap and low watt tube combos, I love the new Fender Blues Juniors and the new Vox AC15s (for what they are).

These are great amps, but don't expect to get versatility without adding pedals. The stereoptypical Orange amp trades on simplicity--single knob tone stacks, etc. I've never seen a 4-channel Orange.

Do you really need 4 channels? There is something to be said for plugging in and the amp just sounding good.
Also, pretty much every guitar god uses a pedal to augment their sound. Zakk Wylde, Randy Rhodes, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Slash, Brian May, Yngwie....etc.

shoule79 wrote:
These are great amps, but don't expect to get rtainly live with it if I had to.[quote]shoule79 wrote:
These are great amps, but don't expect to get versatility without adding pedals. The stereoptypical Orange amp trades on simplicity--single knob tone stacks, etc. I've never seen a 4-channel Orange.
Do you really need 4 channels? There is something to be said for plugging in and the amp just sounding good.
Also, pretty much every guitar god uses a pedal to augment their sound. Zakk Wylde, Randy Rhodes, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Slash, Brian May, Yngwie....etc.

Lots of folks don't use pedals. TBH, I don't need 4 channels, but it shure is nice to have when I want to use it. Normally I just keep mine on the crunch channel and use MFX to dial it in further, but not everyone likes that approach.
All I'm saying is they are not the most versatile amps out there (whether you really need it or not,) but if you don't want the most versatile amp, then it could be a brilliant choice.

Versatility of an amp has a lot to do with the person playing the amp. Picking dynamic alone is something rarely talked about on these list of comments. From many of the comments it sounds like some people just plug into an amp and make there decision of whether or not it sucks in less than 10 seconds. Even a tiny terror has a boat load of tonal options even though it only has 3 knobs. People also seem to ignore the fact that their guitars have tone, volume and pickup selecting controls on their guitars. If you can't find versatility in Orange amps, you are simply being impatient, and probably have no clue how to explore the sonic options of a guitar amplifier properly. By saying that an amp is non-versatile cuz it can't do metal is a narrow minded comment. It only means you have pigeon holed yourself into one specific category of person who only likes one type of amplifier, and it probably means you're just not a very versatile guitar player yet. It's not the amp, it's you. What amps do you find to be versatile or more versatile than the one you're commenting on? As some people have commented, there are tons of noteable metal players out there that use Orange and would tell you how stupid you are for saying these amps can't achieve metal tones.

Bozjoarmstrong wrote:
"Orange amps founder has good things to say about Orange amps"

This. Although i personally have no experience with organge amps, ive heard nothing but good things about the quality of sound. The only negative things i hear are about price and maintaining the amps, but I'm more than sure these are things youll come across looking at any amp.

I don't own Orange amps, but I've done a number of sessions as a freelance studio guitarist where I've had a chance to use 'em simply cuz the studio just happen to have 'em. I can hear from the sound of the amp (or perhaps a lack of certain noises from the amp) how some might not like it, and honest they're not for everyone, but they are clearly amazing. Anyone looking to A/B tube amp stacks should check out Orange amps for sure.